News Coverage
European Environmental Rules Propel Change in U.S.
Published July 5, 2004
When Darcy White of Raytown, Mo., chose to breast-feed her baby daughter two years ago, she had never heard of brominated flame retardants. But after randomly participating in a study, she learned that her breast milk carried unusually high levels of the chemicals.
Since then, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced an agreement with chemical manufacturers to phase out the worst of these toxic compounds, which are present in a wide variety of consumer goods like furniture and computer monitors, and Congress is considering legislation to make the ban permanent.
But it was only after the chemicals had been banned here in Europe that sufficient political pressure built for a phaseout in the United States.
That cycle was no accident. Globalization has often been condemned as encouraging a race to the bottom as multinationals seek the cheapest and least regulated place to do business. But increasingly, American environmental and public health advocates see globalization as a way to start a race to the top. They are taking their issues to the European Union, hoping to use regulations there as a lever for regulations in the United States.
"We are putting more resources into Europe than we otherwise would have done," says Charlotte Brody, coordinator of Health Care Without Harm, a Washington-based group attempting to reduce harmful substances in hospital supplies. "We desperately need the E.U. to be raising the bar and show what is possible."
Environmental groups, too, are working more closely with European lawmakers.
"We feel that Europe is a real opportuni ty," says Ned Helme, executive director for the Center for Clean Air Policy in Washington. Once Europe moves ahead on programs to curb the gases believed to cause global warming, Mr. Helme believes, it will promote change in the United States. "We're pushing where the opportunity for innovation is greatest," he said.
The regulations affect a broad range of American chemical, energy and electronics companies, and industry groups say bureaucrats they did not elect are wielding unprecedented power over them, based on insufficient evidence of harm.
"The E.U. is going where no man has gone before," says James Lovegrove, managing director of the European division of the American Electronics Association, a United States industry lobby. "The moment the ink hits the paper in Europe it becomes a global piece of legislation.''
The generally stricter European laws reflect a different philosophical approach to regulation, says Dr. Indra Spiecker, a lawyer specialized in comparative law and assistant professor for American law at the University of Osnabr